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r1 r2 r3 r4
R1 R2 R3 Preamp Preamp
Output LO
LO Out LO Out
Model 6220 Model 6514 Model 6514
Figure 2. Realistic Circuit of the Four-Point Probe Method or 6221 Electrometer #1 Electrometer #2
Current Source (Voltmeter) (Voltmeter)
Turn on built-in Set to guarded Set to guarded
The common-mode current (i) is the result of the imperfect guard volts mode volts mode
V
Determining Conductivity Type
of a Semiconductor Material
HI LO
There are several methods for determining conductivity type.
×1 ×1
Buffer Buffer The rectification method is used on high resistivity material; the
HI LO HI LO thermoelectric method is used on low resistivity materials. Both
methods involve using a four-point collinear probe, an AC cur-
1 2 3 4 rent source, and a DC voltmeter.
r1 r2 r3 r4 The Rectification Method. This method involves deter-
R1 R2 R3 mining the sign of the majority carrier based on the polarity of
a rectified AC signal at the point of contact with the semicon-
Figure 3. Making Differential Four-Point Probe Measurements ductor material. Figure 5 illustrates this setup. When the four-
point collinear probe comes in contact with the wafer, a metal- For best results when reproducing this test setup, a line
semiconductor “diode” is created at the interface between each frequency test signal of 60Hz (or 50Hz) from the Model 6221 AC
probe and the wafer. An AC current is sourced between the first and DC Current Source should be used. Either the Model 2000
two probes and a DC voltmeter is used to sense the polarity of DMM or the Model 6514 Electrometer can measure the DC volt-
the voltage between probes 2 and 3. The metal-semiconductor age drop. The voltmeter’s integration time should be set to 1 PLC
Schottky “diode” at probe 2 will be either forward- or reversed- (power line cycle).
biased, depending on the polarity of the current, as well as the The magnitude of the AC current will depend on the resistiv-
conductivity type. As a result, the voltmeter will read a positive ity of the material, but it should be large enough to forward-bias
voltage for p-type material and a negative voltage for n-type the diode. This method works well if there is an acceptable rec-
material. tification action, which occurs for DC voltmeter readings greater
than 0.5V. For voltage readings less than 0.5V, the thermoelectric
HI AC LO HI mode should be used.
Current Voltmeter
The Thermoelectric Voltage Method. For highly doped
LO (low resistivity) materials, the voltage developed between probes
Positive reading = p-type
Negative reading = n-type
2 and 3 becomes too small and the rectification mode no longer
works well. For this case, the thermoelectric voltage method
1 2 3 4 determines the conductivity type by the polarity of the ther-
moelectric (or Seebeck) voltage that is generated by a tempera-
ture gradient on the material. Figure 7 is a circuit diagram of
this setup.
Figure 5. Circuit for Determining Conductivity Type Using the Rectification Mode
HI AC LO LO HI
Current Voltmeter
To illustrate this concept further, an oscilloscope was placed
in parallel with the voltmeter. The oscilloscope produced the Positive reading = p-type
waveform shown in Figure 6. Probe 2 was connected to the HI Negative reading = n-type
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